World Patient Safety Day 2021; September 17

World Patient Safety Day was established in 2019 to enhance global understanding of patient safety, increase public engagement in the safety of health care and promote global actions to enhance patient safety and reduce patient harm.

Theme: “Safe maternal and newborn care”.

Objectives of World Patient Safety Day 2021:
- Raise global awareness on the issues of maternal and newborn safety, particularly during childbirth.
- Engage multiple stakeholders and adopt effective and innovative strategies to improve maternal and newborn safety.
- Call for urgent and sustainable actions by all stakeholders to scale up efforts, reach the unreached and ensure safe maternal and newborn care, particularly during childbirth.
- Advocate the adoption of best practices at the point of care to prevent avoidable risks and harm to all women and newborns during childbirth.

Celebrating World Patient Safety Day 2021.

During the continuing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, a combination of virtual and other activities are being planned by WHO to observe and celebrate the Day in September 2021. The signature mark of the global campaign is to light up iconic monuments, landmarks, and public places in the colour orange.

WHO calls upon all stakeholders – governments, nongovernmental organizations, professional organizations, civil society, patient organizations, academia and research institutes – to join the global campaign by lighting up iconic monuments in orange, and organizing international, national and local 

Activities and events on and around 17 September 2021.

World Patient Safety Day 2021 "Safe Maternal and Newborn care'' webinars

Sign up for World Patient Safety Day 2021-2022 Goals

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer 2021; September 16th

 

 FORUM: " Montreal Protocol – keeping us, our food and vaccines cool." International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer 2021

Statement by the Secretary-General on International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer | 16 September 16th.

The Montreal Protocol began life as a mechanism to protect and heal the ozone layer. It has done its job well over the past three decades. The ozone layer is on the road to recovery. The cooperation we have seen under the Montreal Protocol is exactly what is needed now to take on climate change, an equally existential threat to our societies.

The Montreal Protocol is more than just an example of how multilateralism can and should work, it is an active tool to help meet our global vision for sustainable development. Under the Kigali Amendment to the Protocol, nations have committed to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), powerful greenhouse gases used as coolants. When fully implemented, the Kigali Amendment could prevent 0.4 degrees Celsius of global warming this century.

Furthermore, as we prepare for the Food Systems Summit this month, we are reminded that the Kigali Amendment can also help us to increase food security. By reducing HFCs, increasing energy efficiency and creating more ozone- and climate-friendly technologies, the Kigali Amendment can bring sustainable access to vital cooling services to millions of people.

Such services would reduce food loss in developing countries, where food often spoils before it can reach markets. Getting produce from farmers to where it is needed would help reduce hunger, poverty and the environmental impact of the agricultural sector. Another important benefit of expanding cooling is storage of medicines and vaccines, such as are needed to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment show us that by acting together, anything is possible. So let us act now to slow climate change, feed the world’s hungry and protect the planet that we all depend on.

António Guterres

International Literacy Day 2021; September 8th

 Theme: Literacy for a human-centred recovery: Narrowing the digital divide.

On the occasion of the Celebrations of International Literacy Day 2021, Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, gives a special message to congratulate the 2021 Laureates of the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes from Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Mexico and South Africa.

The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted the learning of children, young people and adults at an unprecedented scale. It has also magnified the pre-existing inequalities in access to meaningful literacy learning opportunities, disproportionally affecting 773 million non-literate young people and adults. Youth and adult literacy were absent in many initial national response plans, while numerous literacy programmes have been forced to halt their usual modes of operation.

Even in the times of global crisis, efforts have been made to find alternative ways to ensure the continuity of learning, including distance learning, often in combination with in-person learning.  Access to literacy learning opportunities, however, has not been evenly distributed. The rapid shift to distance learning also highlighted the persistent digital divide in terms of connectivity, infrastructure, and the ability to engage with technology, as well as disparities in other services such as access to electricity, which has limited learning options.   

The pandemic, however, was a reminder of the critical importance of literacy. Beyond its intrinsic importance as part of the right to education, literacy empowers individuals and improves their lives by expanding their capabilities to choose a kind of life they can value. It is also a driver for sustainable development. Literacy is an integral part of education and lifelong learning premised on humanism as defined by the Sustainable Development Goal 4. Literacy, therefore, is central to a human-centred recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

ILD 2021 will explore how literacy can contribute to building a solid foundation for a human-centred recovery, with a special focus on the interplay of literacy and digital skills required by non-literate youth and adults. It will also explore what makes technology-enabled literacy learning inclusive and meaningful to leave no one behind. By doing so, ILD2021 will be an opportunity to reimagine future literacy teaching and learning, within and beyond the context of the pandemic.

International Day of Charity 2021; September 5th

Theme: "Honouring Mother Theresa." International Day of Charity 2021.

The quote on the stamp, which is in English, is as follows: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

Mother Teresa, the renowned nun and missionary, was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Macedonia in 1910. Her family was of Albanian descent. At age twelve, she strongly felt the call of God and knew she wanted to be a missionary. At the age of eighteen, she went to India and devoted herself to the help of the destitute. In 1948 she became an Indian citizen and founded the order of Missionaries of Charity in Kolkota (Calcutta) in 1950, which became noted for its work to support the poor and the dying in that region.

For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity’s expansion, first in India and then in other countries, including the construction of hospices and homes for the poor and the homeless.

Mother Teresa’s work has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world. She received numerous awards and distinctions, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 “for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace”.

Mother Teresa died on 5 September 1997, at the age of 87. The United Nations designated the 5th of September of each year as the International day of Charity, which is the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa.

International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism 2021; August 21st

Theme : "Surviving terrorism the power of connection" International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism 2021.

 CONCERT

International Day of Cooperatives 2021; July 03rd

 FORUM: "Rebuild Better Together". International Day of Cooperatives 2021.

The ICA calls on cooperators and partners around the world to get ready to celebrate #CoopsDay on 3 July and to show the world how we can Rebuild better together.

Statement from the President of the International Cooperative Alliance, Ariel Guarco, for the 2021 International Day of Cooperatives. The theme of this edition is "Rebuild Better Together".

International Asteroids Day 2021; June 30th

 FORUM: Celebrate International Asteroid Day 2021 with NASA and The Asteroid Foundation

At NASA, every day is asteroid day. From the many missions journeying to asteroids in our solar system – some even returning samples to Earth – to the efforts to find, track and monitor near-Earth objects and protect our planet from potential impact hazards, NASA and its partners are always looking to the skies. Join us on International Asteroid Day, Wednesday, June 30 at 1:00 p.m. ET to hear from experts and ask them your questions about all things asteroids. Send in questions using #askNASA.   Meet the experts:    Dr. Dani DellaGiustina is a Research Scientist at the University of Arizona and the acting Deputy Principal Investigator for the OSIRIS-REx mission. Dani has been studying our solar system and asteroids for quite some time. She says she loves seeing images and data that's coming off spacecraft for the first time because chances are - you might be the first human who has ever seen a rock or feature on a planetary surface. She says it feels like you are on the edge of human knowledge. In her spare time, Dani enjoys being outside and hanging out with her dogs.    Dr. Terik Daly is a Senior Scientist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. As a planetary scientist, Terik investigates how the solar system formed and changes through time. He loves working in teams to solve problems that are too big for any one person to solve, which is why he finds his work in planetary defense interesting. Terik has three young kids and enjoys cooking, yoga and biking.